My first experiences with mature games came in my pre-teen years when I was introduced to Avalon Hill war games. War games teach long term strategy, resource management, and tactics. In addition, one cannot escape learning a great deal of history while enjoying hours, sometimes days of gaming. However, the very nature of a war game is combat, complete with competitiveness, cunning, and make-believe violence. Yes, though war games do teach valuable lessons and sometimes develop a great appreciation for history, they may also bring out the worst in armchair soldiers. It is almost amusing watching two middle-aged men dressed in fatigues stand around a war gaming table and argue for hours about whether a .50 caliber machine gun would penetrate the side armor of a particular tank at a given distance and whether the game mechanics accurately depict this or not. Although war games attempt to accurately depict the pinnacle of man's violence, war, and teach the lessons learned by such an atrocity, those that play the games do not often fall prey to scrutiny by religious zealots.

After a few years of war gaming, I was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) by a high school friend. It has remained my game of choice for the past 20 years. Most D&D gamers fall prey to two misconceptions: "D&D is a Devil-worshipping game where you use spells and witchcraft", and "D&D makes you go insane and lose your ability to discriminate between reality and fantasy". Neither argument is true. It is true that D&D uses monsters called "Demons", "Devils", etc. but they are simply evil imaginary monsters that are ultimately destroyed, just like trolls, giants, goblins, and other evil creatures found in mythological and fantasy sources. It is also true that D&D has a spell-casting system that does have a basis in the history of magic and religion, but the spells are entirely imaginary. They have no real power or efficacy and at no time are the "spells" described as detailed rites, etc. In fact, other than occasional figures that are used to ease combat resolution, the entire game is imaginary and contained within the minds of the players.

D&D is a role-playing game (RPG). The basic premise is that a player assumes or acts the role of an imaginary hero or heroine, called a character, complete with imaginary equipment and abilities including spells, and he or she acts to obtain an item, save the Princess, destroy an evil monster, etc. Most interactions between characters are in reality, verbal communication between players, but all physical interactions are imaginary. The freedom to be and to do whatever you dream can elucidate strong emotional response.

Since the game is contained in the minds of the players, it is possible for many people to enjoy the game, regardless of age, race, physical impairment, etc. I have personally played the game with several severely physically impaired players. With the exception of difficulty in turning pages in rules manuals, they were able to play the game with no problems. Imagine how they felt, pretending they were able to run, swim, fight, and perform other physically demanding tasks although in reality, they were confined to wheelchairs.

There are other benefits of D&D as well. Not unlike war gamers, most players acquire some historical knowledge, often of the dark ages, medieval period, or renaissance. This history often includes warfare, tools, religion, customs, and music of the period. D&D gamers are also given chances to hone social skills such as diplomacy through character interaction. Often, D&D games serve as social functions. My friends and I do not waste our lives getting hammered in the local bars. Instead, we get together to talk, play D&D, catch up on each other's lives, etc.

Nevertheless, the most well developed skills that D&D gamers often nurture are quick decision making, problem solving, and teamwork. Each character has a certain set of skills. The person who writes and directs the game, called the dungeon master, presents the characters with situations that they must overcome. Sometimes this is a violent monster, other times it may be a puzzle or trap. Characters must work as a team, using their individual skill sets to overcome these situations. I am sure that I do not need to explain how important quick decision-making, problem solving, and teamwork skills are in today's job market. I've been involved in two separate corporate 'team-building' exercises, designed to teach workers how to utilize each other's skill sets, the importance of teamwork and team diversity, and how to perform risk assessment to aid in decision making. Undoubtedly, these exercises were designed and conducted by "team building experts" at a great expense to the company. It is a shame that neither exercise came close to teaching the skills that D&D players hone by playing this simple, fun game. Next time you hear somebody accusing D&D players of being Satan-worshipers, witches, or insane, perhaps you should ignore their narrow-minded, ignorant, unfounded babble and try the game yourself. You never know, you might just learn something.